Category Archives: Family

7 Quick Takes: My Grown-Up Christmas List Edition

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7 Quick Takes

This is not related to the Amy Grant song. I’m in bed with a cold and needed something to write about this week, so this is my Christmas list as a 39 year old.

Also, there may/may not be Amazon affiliate links in this post because I am an Amazon affiliate.

— 1 —

For this cold to go away. Seriously, I’d like to be able to sneeze and not feel like my throat is having the cilia sandblasted off of it.

— 2 —

For Daniel to stop randomly YELLING when HE IS MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so over this. Like really over this.

— 3 —

Talent at calligraphy. I’d love to make my bullet journal look like something made by Boho Berry or Amanda Rach Lee, but that’s not my strong suit. I’ve done 3 months of consistent bullet journaling, so I got myself this for next year, and I would really like to come up with a more interesting layout than this:

My bujo.

— 4 —

A job. I do love being a tutor, but I would really like to able to start working in my field and moving on with my life. However, Daniel is looking at more therapies, so I’ll be tutoring for at least another quarter to have a flexible schedule. At least I get to do some fun stuff with Excel!

— 5 —

Work clothes. I have some clothes on my Amazon wishlist toward which I’ll be putting gift cards. I should also maybe make a Kohl’s wishlist or something as well.

— 6 —

Interweave Crochet magazine subscription. I’d love a subscription to this magazine.

— 7 —

Yarn. I’d love a gift card to Michael’s or Herrschners.Com. I mean, YARN!!!!

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Random Songs Edition

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7 Quick Takes

Jon is here visiting this week, and we have just gotten back from one of Daniel’s appointments at the Autism Center in Seattle. My brain isn’t putting together coherent thoughts, so here are 7 songs that are in my head right now.

— 1 —

“The Boxer” with Shawn Colvin, Alison Kraus, and Jerry Douglas.

— 2 —

“Kyrie Eleison” by Mr. Mister.

— 3 —

“Stella splendens” by Llibre Vermell.

— 4 —

“Yet Not I But Christ Through Me” by City Alight.

— 5 —

“How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Fernando Ortega.

— 6 —

“It Is Well With My Soul” by Audrey Assad.

— 7 —

“I Shall Not Want” by Audrey Assad.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Choosing to Find Joy Edition

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Prayer request. My friend Bekah had her son Declan at 28 weeks due to preeclampsia. She and Declan are doing OK, but Mr. D is going to be in the NICU for a bit. Prayers would be appreciated.

Please and thank you! 😀

— 2 —

So I was thinking… I was looking over some entries from 13 years ago, and I used to be a more whiny and negative person than I am today. Granted, there was a lot that wasn’t going well at the time, but a lot of stuff used to derail my day pretty easily. This changed a lot with my pregnancy with Daniel.

— 3 —

Sickness. It was hard a lot of the time. I didn’t know when I got pneumonia in October 2008 that I was pregnant at the time, and that definitely would have changed the treatment I sought for it. Thankfully, none of what I took hurt Daniel that we know of. I also got some pretty serious colds, and I was very much limited in what I could take.

— 4 —

Something about Mary. I started thinking about the Virgin Mary that December when it was -20F for weeks at a time, and I would be driving into work with gloves on with socks over them, trying to keep my hands warm and to keep them from aching. It struck me one day how hard her last few months of pregnancy must have been, especially the journey to Bethlehem.

— 5 —

Daniel’s birth. The traumatic experience of Daniel’s birth and the shock it gave me in so many ways changed how I approached each day. That first week, I was so shell-shocked that it seemed like things were getting worse by the day, but my little creature held on. Despite everything getting thrown at him, he was able to persevere through. One of the nurses told me to start finding those little joys in each day because we were in for a marathon with him. Her advice proved helpful as it gave me something on which I could focus to hold onto hope that he would eventually make it home, given that it took a month before I could even form the words to pray, and I had to work through A LOT of anger.

— 6 —

10 years later… I have held onto that practice of seeking out the joy in every day, even when we went through Daniel’s epic hospitalization 8 1/2 years ago, and that joy was sometimes that he didn’t die that day. It has stayed with me through more hospitalizations, Daniel’s autism diagnosis, the end of my marriage, and the divorce process that took two years. Even on the worst days, I choose to seek out some small joy in something. I don’t know that I would have survived if I could not do this.

— 7 —

New music. I heard this song last night and thought I’d share.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Pedee Edition

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7 Quick Takes

This past weekend, the family gathered at a small wooded cemetery outside of Pedee, Oregon to bury part of my grandmother’s ashes. (The remainder of the ashes are sitting on the china cabinet downstairs and will go into the memorial garden at my parish, where she was a member for more than 35 years.) Stories were shared, some tears were shed, a Baha’i prayer on the death of women was shared, I read part of the commendation prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and her obituary was read as well. The grave flowers are from my mom’s dahlia patch, which provided many flowers placed in Grandma’s room over the last three years.

Pedee is a very special place for all of us. I didn’t appreciate it the first time I went there in elementary school (we were in the area on the way to Washington and I kind of wanted to just get to my grandparents’ house), but I fell in love with it when I was there in 2006 to bury Grandpa. It’s a peaceful place and everyone comes when there’s a burial. (A second or third cousin of mine flew out from New York as a surprise for the occasion. I hadn’t seen her in 16 years, so it was special that she came, especially as she had only met Grandma a handful of times.) Two of the daughters of Grandma’s sister, my great-aunt Jean, were able to join us from Montana, so that was incredibly special. I hadn’t seen them for 15-20 years despite living in Montana for 4 1/2 years during that time.

— 1 —

A beautiful day.

— 2 —

A very calm and serene setting.

— 3 —

Some of those might be pioneer graves.

— 4 —

This is the grave of my great-grandparents and their infant son Dickie.

My great-grandparents and their infant son.

— 5 —

My cousin Erik, who passed away a few years ago.

My cousin Erik.

— 6 —

My grandfather, who passed away in 2006. I talk about his burial here.

Ich liebe dich, Opa.

— 7 —

My grandma. She was buried in a Chinese ginger urn with her wedding ring. We are so happy that she is back beside her “roommate”, as she and Grandpa used to call each other.

I love you, Grandma. Say hi to Grandpa for me.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

7 Quick Takes: Daniel in Hospital Edition

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7 Quick Takes

Just a warning: lots of mentions of poop. Skip it if it is going to make you queasy.

— 1 —

Backstory. Daniel puked up a feed on Monday afternoon, and I decided to withhold his evening feed to give his stomach a rest. Well… he couldn’t keep anything down on Tuesday, and he started puking up stuff that looked like coffee. After a Google search on what it might be, I made the decision to take him to the ER. It turns out (after an x-ray and bloodwork) that his lower G-I was completely impacted with poop, and nothing was getting through. We made the decision with our ER doctor to admit him for hydration and to see if they could get him pooping again.

— 2 —

Wednesday. They tried various things and he puked up everything they gave him through the tube… so they ended up taking him down to the OR and manually disimpacting him under anesthesia. (I’m not going to describe how. You can Google it.) The good news: he came out of anesthesia well, and I need to find out what they gave him to get that outcome because he has been crankier than cranky the previous two times he was under anesthesia.

— 3 —

Last night. He’s been on a continuous drip of GoLytely, which is the stuff they give you to clean you out before a colonoscopy. I slept for a good chunk of the day because I was up until 5 a.m. with people coming in and out of the room to change his training pants and also change blankets and sheets. Thankfully, the nausea is gone.

— 4 —

Today. My priest woke me up at 10:30 a.m. to anoint Daniel and me. (I had been dead to the world yesterday when he stopped by, so I told him he was allowed to wake me up if I was asleep when he came by.) It has been a day of changing training pants and sheets, and unfortunately, the nurses were having to do it all as I accidentally took my night meds this morning and took a decent nap this afternoon.

— 5 —

Tonight. We’re letting him get up and walk around a bit as long as he holds on to his IV pole. We are currently waiting for his CNA to be available to take him out on the floor for a walk and maybe stimulate him to poop. Once kiddo is asleep tonight, they’re going to figure out a way for me to get a shower. Mom has been bringing me clothes and I thankfully do have clothes to leave in tomorrow.

— 6 —

An interesting discovery. When they disimpacted him on Wednesday, the blockage that they were able to get out without cutting him open had a bunch of his ADHD meds in it… UNDISOLVED!!! This explains the really severe behavior issues we have had as of late.

— 7 —

Prayer request. Please pray that the walking tonight causes him to start to pass the rest of the solid blockage. As much as this is an easy hospital stay thus far, I’m almost out of clean clothes and I am going to feel guilty if I have to make Mom do my laundry to get more. I live only a mile from the hospital, but my car died its final death on Monday, so I would have to borrow Mom’s car to get home and shower or do laundry.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: June 24, 2019

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For Today… June 24, 2019

Simple Woman's Daybook

Looking out my window… sunny and in the high 60’s.

I am thinking… about Homer, my parents’ cat who we had to let go a year ago today.

I am thankful… for my nephew Braden’s first birthday today. I saw the little beast yesterday and got smiles. I am a very happy Auntie Jen!

One of my favorite things… quiet. I rarely get it with Daniel out of school for the summer (with the exception of ESY).

I am wearing… charcoal shirt and jeans capris.

I am creating… plot points for my Camp NaNoWriMo piece.

I am reading… Inspired by Rachel Held Evans. I’m finding it hard to read since Rachel died, because I don’t want to be done with her writing.

I am hoping… there’s something fun for me in the mailbox. **UPDATE** It was just a yarn catalog, my car insurance bill, and my AAA magazine.

In my kitchen… whatever is in the freezer.

In the school room… Daniel is out for the next two weeks until ESY starts.

Post Script… the Classic Editor plugin I use to keep the editor that existed on WordPress before they rolled out “Gutenberg”.

Shared Quote… “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.” – Neil Gaiman, Good Omens

A moment from my day…

Hosted by The Simple Woman.

7 Quick Takes: “What’s Next?” Edition

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7 Quick Takes

I’m graduating tonight with my AAS in both of the Office and Business Technology degrees from Skagit Valley College, and I have a lot of people asking “what’s next?” when I see them. So… this is my list of things that are coming up:

— 1 —

Appointments. Daniel has a psychiatrist appointment in Seattle tomorrow, and we are going to be grilling the doctor on what we can do because he has been crazy this week. Next week, I have a therapy appointment on Monday and Daniel has a couple on Wednesday. I just called and got a bunch of stuff set up and the calendar is looking a little crazy.

— 2 —

Adulting. The last three years have been crazy with the divorce and school, so I have some adult and legal appointments happening in July to get everything squared away before I’m working full-time.

— 3 —

Possible surgery. There’s a hysterectomy in the somewhat near future for me. My surgical consult appointment keeps getting moved, so I have no clue when.

— 4 —

Biobehavioral Therapy for Daniel. We’re apparently at the top of the list now, so it might be in July or August? We’re hoping it’s late July because we need some tools for parenting and working with this kid. Autism tends to throw all the normal kid rules out and his developmental issues mean that I have a 3-4 year old in a 10 year old’s body.

— 5 —

Camp NaNoWriMo. I’m aiming for 50,000 words of a story written in July. I’m sorting out plot stuff and working with characters right now. It’s something creative my brain can do now that it isn’t full of Accounting or Microsoft Office things.

— 6 —

Family time. My nephew turns 1 this weekend, we have another family thing next weekend, and we’ll be headed to the pioneer cemetery to bury Grandma at some point this summer. I’ll definitely be seeing a lot of family members and I am actually pretty excited about it.

— 7 —

Look for jobs. My resume is up on a few sites and we’ll see what shakes out this summer.

— Bonus —

Here is a picture of me in all my graduation regalia with my honor cords, tassel, and medals. I was also eligible for a stole from Phi Theta Kappa, but I did not get it ordered in time.

Me in graduation regalia with honor cord, tassel, and medal.

For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.